Rennie Scaysbrook | September 21, 2016
MotoAmerica CEO Wayne Rainey shoots from the hip on the state of America’s premier road-racing series
Wayne Rainey chats to former AMA number one, Yamaha’s Josh Hayes. Rainey wants more factory teams back in AMA competition, and believes the WorldSBK-style rules is the way to go.
Wayne Rainey has seen just about every side of motorcycle racing. As a three-time MotoGP World Champion, former team owner and now head of the KRAVE Group that controls MotoAmerica with partners Chuck Aksland, Richard Varner and Terry Karges, Rainey has helped breathe life back into a failing American road-racing championship that saw factory teams disappear, sponsors leaving in droves and riders no longer considering racing in the U.S. a viable career option.
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Photography by Brian J Nelson
Now two years into his tenure, Rainey is pleased with the progress that’s been made—a former World Champion in Toni Elias now wants to call this championship home, there’s renewed interest from manufacturers other than Suzuki and Yamaha, and the KTM RC Cup is doing what was expected of it in providing a platform for the next generation of American racers to shine.
“People didn’t really know what to expect when my name was attached to this,” Rainey says of the MotoAmerica project. “When we announced this thing there were some big manufacturers sitting on the side. They were going to watch how this thing unveiled and how it would go, race-to-race. I think by the sixth race of last year, one (manufacturer) contacted us and said, ‘this looks good. We like what you’re doing.’ People just didn’t know. That’s just how fresh we are and how new we are.”
Live television has added a much-needed dimension to the championship via broadcasters beIN Sports. This alone has helped push MotoAmerica into the homes of millions of viewers, and is an integral part of Rainey’s grand plans.
“Bringing in beIN Sports for live TV has been by far the best step that we made this year, getting in the promotion of the sport. beIN is a wonderful partner. What they want to do for next year is going to be great, and we’re seeing there’s some real big motorbike fans inside beIN. Of course we have the relationship with Dorna that helped line this up.”
Toni Elias (24) has signaled his intentions to stay in the MotoAmerica Superbike Series. Claudio Corti (71) also wants to stay. Both riders are former MotoGP stars.
Earlier in the year, MotoAmerica announced plans to move the rules back toward those of the World Superbike Championship. This move, an opposite to what is seen in many other racing series’ around the world where rules are progressively dumbed down to more Superstock specification, means U.S. riders in the premier category will now have the same access to machinery and technology used in Europe.
“We were actually about a year ahead of ourselves when we started working on the rules package about four months ago,” he says. “In working with the manufacturers that are currently in the championship and trying to move our sport to the next level, we have to have other manufacturers in it. But we certainly have to watch what we’re doing with our current rules, because we can’t move too quickly, it’s a big undertaking. Now the manufacturers know about next year, it’s up to them to figure out a way to get into the championship, because the rules now are exactly what World Superbike is. I think the only thing we don’t nominate is a gearbox. The good news is there’s interest from all of them (manufacturers to come in as factory teams), they just got to figure out how to get it done.”
The KTM RC Cup has often put on the best racing of the weekend and has given an even platform for the kids to shine on.
Those new manufacturers include KTM, who have been a part of MotoAmerica since its inception two years ago with the RC Cup. Often the race of the weekend and with the fullest grids of any class, the RC Cup has provided a relatively inexpensive way for young talent to get on the grid and impress possible future teams and employers. The series is being noticed around the world, with this year’s champion Brandon Paasch being selected for a Spanish CEV Moto3 tryout at Catalunya next month.
“That’s been most successful,” states Rainey. “It’s real popular. That’s our future stars. I think most people really look forward to the young guys banging bars. That’s been fun, and I think the momentum we have now at the end of this second year, MotoAmerica’s grown as a company—the KTM Cup’s definitely working.”
Part of the reason for the RC Cup’s success is there’s no Moto3 national championship in North America, and given his Grand Prix background and desire to see more Americans racing in the top flight in Europe, is this something Rainey would like to see as part of MotoAmerica?
“This a different championship than what they do in Europe,” he says. “Most of national championships don’t run a spec Moto3 class and our way of thinking here in the U.S. is we first want to have a competitive championship. It doesn’t matter which class it is. If we look at all the success the Americans had before they went to Europe, it was because the American championship was very competitive. This was the championship all the other champions came through when trying to get to the world championship. That’s changed. Bike development has changed, and the way you ride them has changed. They’re not grand prix bikes, but I think a young, competitive racer that’s winning here could go over and ride a grand prix bike and adapt very quick. I’m not talking about everybody; I’m talking about the very special guys. That’s really what we’re looking for.”
Two-time MotoAmerica Series Champion Cameron Beaubier had a go in World Superbike this year as a fill-in for Sylvain Guintoli, taking DNF-10 finishes for Pata Yamaha, and even though he declined more races, Rainey believes he has the ability to make it in Europe, if he chooses.
Rainey believes Cameron Beaubier could make the switch to Europe full time if he chose to, but for now seems content to race in the U.S.
“He’s obviously a young guy, got a lot of charisma,” Rainey says. “He’s a good spokesperson for our sport, but saying that, he got a chance to go over and race in World Superbike on tires he’d never been on, a bike he’d never raced and in a new championship. Then in the race he was in the top five or six and he tipped over, but then he got a top 10 in the second race. He was the guy that got the result for the team. I think he had a chance to go do other ones [WorldSBK races], but he thought about his American championship and he wanted to come and win this year. So he’s had a chance to go over there. I think he could be there if he wanted.
“I think this championship is getting the recognition it needs, it’s starting to come quickly, and I see riders trying to make careers out of this profession here. There’s the ones that we would love to see go over to Europe. We never know who that is, but we’re starting to see those European teams pay attention.
“This is only the second year of the championship. When we started MotoAmerica, it was going to be a three- to five-year plan, so we’ll see how we’re going at the end of next year. It’s going to take time.”
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